She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown
She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown is the nineteenth animated television special based on the Peanuts comic strip by Charles M. Schulz. The special first aired on CBS on February 25, 1980 and was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program. A notable difference from previous Peanuts TV specials is that the voices of adults, including teachers, are heard as comprehensible English instead of the "wah wah" trombone sound. Subsequent animated specials would return to using that sound instead of adult voices. Schulz's daughter Amy Schulz has a small role in She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown as the voice of one of the skaters in the competition. Plot The special opens with Peppermint Patty practicing ice skating on a frozen pond while her coach Snoopy watches and makes grumbling noises to show his dissatisfaction with her progress. Peppermint Patty is dedicated to her skating practice, at one point she and Snoopy knock out a group of boys who want her to get off the ice so that they can play ice hockey. However, Peppermint Patty's dedication means that she has to get up at 4:30am to practice and, as a result, keeps falling asleep in class. While visiting Marcie's house, Peppermint Patty notices a sewing machine. In spite of the fact that Marcie tells her that it is her mother's sewing machine and that she does not know how to use it, Peppermint Patty insists that she makes a dress for her to wear at the upcoming ice skating competition. Marcie makes a terrible dress without any sleeves that looks more like a poncho. Fortunately, Snoopy comes along, passes the dress through the sewing machine and transforms it into a beautiful creation. On the day of the ice skating competition, all of the competitors practice together at first. The skaters leave the ice and Snoopy clears it by driving a Zamboni, something that the children in the audience enjoying watching very much. The first two skaters, Sandy and Mora, do very badly on their turn but the third, Evelyn, does well when she goes out and the pressure is on Peppermint Patty to outdo her. Unfortunately, as Peppermint Patty takes to the ice, the cassette of the music that she is to dance to malfunctions and the tape unravels out of the machine. Snoopy, who is also in charge of playing the music for competitors, tries to fix it. Meanwhile, Peppermint Patty is forced to hold her opening pose longer than she expected and becomes uncomfortable. However, Peppermint Patty is saved when Woodstock steps up to the microphone and whistles the music for the girl to skate to. Peppermint Patty wins the competition. As Peppermint Patty and Snoopy walk home, Snoopy returns to being the displeased grumbling coach. Peppermint Patty asks if he can say anything nice, which he responds to by kissing her on the cheek. Voice cast * Patricia Patts - Peppermint Patty * Casey Carlson - Marcie * Bill Melendez - Snoopy * Arrin Skelley - Charlie Brown, rude hockey player captain * Debbie Muller - Teacher, shopkeeper * Scott Beach - Announcer * Daniel Anderson - Linus van Pelt * Laura Planting - Lucy van Pelt * Jason Victor Serinus - Woodstock (whistling) Schroeder also appears in this special, but is silent. Skaters *Mary Ellen Kinsey (as Mary Kinsey) *Karen Hutton *Amy Schulz Errors *Logically, the cassette would not malfunction that quickly. It may, however, have been rigged. Notes *An addendum to the film is the concluding animation associated with the credits. In clear line, an older ice skater dances in an animation composed of stopped frames. While graceful and elegant, the character does have a large nose. She is therefore an older form of Peppermint Patty, who became very good at ice skating, and beautiful despite her supposed impediment. *This is the third Peanuts special in which adults actually speak words rather than being represented with the plunger-muted trombone sounds. *Woodstock whistles Puccini's "O Mio Babbino Caro" in the skating competition. Mimi would later sing this song in It Was My Best Birthday Ever, Charlie Brown. *The special's working title was She's the Winner, Charlie Brown. Origins This special is mainly based on a storyline originally published in November and December 1974, which was the longest storyline in Peanuts history, lasting about six weeks. The strip has other sub-plots that were left out of the special, and changes were made to the storyline by the time it went to the small screen. In the strip, after the disaster with Peppermint Patty's skating dress, Marcie's mother steps in to make the alterations, rather than Snoopy as in the TV special. After Peppermint Patty gets her dress she wants to do something about her self-described "mousy-blah" hair and decides to go to Charlie Brown's father's barber shop. Charlie Brown forgets to tell his father that Peppermint Patty is a girl. Peppermint Patty tells Mr. Brown that she could strike his son out in three pitches. As a result, Mr. Brown gives Peppermint Patty a boy's haircut, much to her despair. To cover up the mistake, Peppermint Patty wears an afro wig several sizes too big. This scene is altered in the special, with the wig a gift offered by Snoopy and promptly refused. Peppermint Patty arrives at the competition and only at that point finds out that it is for roller skating, not ice skating, but not before she gets into trouble for inadvertently damaging the rink floor with her ice skate blades. Peppermint Patty returns from the competition realizing she still owes Snoopy for her lessons. Having no money, she gives him her wig as payment. Some of the strips from the storyline were later adapted as the episode "Like Skates on Ice" from the 2014 French TV series Peanuts. Gallery Patty in a sleeveless dress.JPG|Peppermint Patty wears a sleeveless dress, much to her disgust. Patty about to cry.JPG|Peppermint Patty believes she is about to cry because she does not like the ruined dress. Woodstock1.png SnoopyseEmociona2.png SnoopyseEmociona.png|Snoopy crying as Woodstock's whistling of Peppermint Patty's song pulls at his heartstrings ShesAGoodSkate2.jpg ShesAGoodSkate1.jpg|Snoopy crying as Woodstock's whistling of Peppermint Patty's song pulls at his heartstrings SnoopyDJ By SheAGoodSkate.jpg abdf7e376485dad0a37fb57af29e2d02.jpg shes-a-good-skate-charlie-brown-344296l.jpg snowdays5.jpg skate13.png she's a good skate46.jpg 4181673fcc2cb6cfdd2c75124de6376e.jpg peanuts-emmy-02.jpg shes-a-good-skate37.jpg PattySkate.jpg woodstocksing.jpg GoodSkateCB.jpg|Peppermint Patty's final scores are enough to propel her to the top! File:ItsFlashbeagleCharlieBrownVHS3.jpg|A home media release paired with It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown External links *''Shes a Good Skate, Charlie Brown'' on the Internet Movie Database. *[http://www.bcdb.com/cartoon/28567-Shes-A-Good-Skate-Charlie-Brown She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown on the Big Cartoon Database.] *[http://www.allmovie.com/movie/shes-a-good-skate-charlie-brown-v44232 She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown on AllMovie.] es:Ella sabe patinar, Carlitos Category:TV specials Category:1980 Category:TV specials featuring Woodstock Category:TV specials featuring Peppermint Patty Category:TV specials featuring Marcie Category:Emmy Award nominated programs Category:TV specials featuring Snoopy Category:TV specials featuring Charlie Brown Category:TV specials featuring Linus van Pelt Category:TV specials featuring Lucy van Pelt Category:TV specials featuring Schroeder Category:Ice skating Category:She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown Category:TV specials featuring Mora Category:TV specials featuring Sandy Category:TV specials featuring Evelyn